A resident of Krasnodar, a major city in southern Russia, was fined 400,000 roubles (US$4,400) for a comment expressing approval of arson attacks on military enlistment offices.

The Southern District Military Court has sentenced Viktor Morozov, a resident of Krasnodar, a major city in southern Russia, to a fine of 400,000 roubles (US$4,400) for a comment approving the arson of military enlistment offices. This was reported by the Telegram channel of the Krasnodar Krai prosecutor’s office.

The man was found guilty under the article on justifying terrorism on the internet (Part 2, Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). He was also banned from administering websites and pages on the internet for two years.

“The court hearing established that on 25 November 2023, he, being an opponent of the special military operation conducted by the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, posted a comment on one of the social networks under a news item about a resident of the city of Saint Petersburg being sentenced by a court for attempting to commit a terrorist act by setting fire to two military enlistment offices, in which he acknowledged the convicted person’s actions as permissible and justified,” the prosecutor’s office wrote.

It is likely that the comment attributed to Morozov referred to the news about the sentence handed down to secondary school student Yegor Balazeykin, which was announced on 22 November 2023 in St Petersburg. Balazeykin, who was then 17, was sentenced to six years in a juvenile correctional facility for attempting to set fire to two military enlistment offices in Leningrad Oblast.